Easy Popsicle Recipe: Emergency Electrolyte Replacement pops

This popsicle recipe is a bit different from my other recipes.  I did not come up with this recipe because we wanted a new tasty treat.  This was born of necessity using ingredients I had on hand.

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A horrible stomach virus is making it’s rounds.  Unlike viruses that I have experienced in the past, rather than leave you running from both ends for 24 hours, my son is going on day 4 of this misery.  The first day, he woke up with a fever.  The fever progressively got higher, with him topping out at 104.8 even while on [easyazon_link identifier=”B00BR6SXBO” locale=”US” tag=”scrugcorne-20″]acetominephen[/easyazon_link] (Tylenol) and [easyazon_link identifier=”B0088FOD02″ locale=”US” tag=”scrugcorne-20″]ibuprofen[/easyazon_link] (Motrin).  Thankfully, we are at the end of this bug and he is feeling much better–finally.  It was scary for a while.

On day 2, the diarrhea began.  The vomiting started shortly after.  I tried gatorade, broth, water, coconut water, and ginger ale and he was unable to keep any of it down.  I resorted to popsicles. [easyazon_link identifier=”B0026XYHVC” locale=”US” tag=”scrugcorne-20″]The Flavor Ice pops[/easyazon_link] were what I had in the freezer to help Pea with taking her medicine.  They don’t have any electrolytes, and he was so dehydrated that we ended up bringing him to the hospital for an IV bag and anti-nausea medication.

After returning home from the hospital, I decided to make some quick popsicles to help him stay hydrated.  Though the zofran mostly stopped the vomiting, the doctor said there was nothing we could do to stop the diarrhea.

Dehydration kills kids.  One of my uncles, passed away as a child due to dehydration from diarrhea.  And preventing it is my focus with this type of illness.

Here are some common signs of dehydration:

• Sunken eyes
• Not urinating at least once every 8 hours
• Lethargy
• Crying with no tears

I called our pediatrician when I saw these symptoms.  He recommended that we bring him to the Emergency Room.  Once there they confirmed the dehydration through the exam and bloodwork.

The fact that my son loathes the taste of coconut water and pedialyte, and I ran out of gatorade, (which isn’t exactly healthy either) made it difficult to replace the electrolytes he lost.  I didn’t have the heart to wrestle my already miserable kid to the ground and threaten him to keep him from spitting out the coconut water.  He was suffering enough.

In a perfect, less “in the thick of battle” world, I would have made this with freshly squeezed fruit juice or any juice besides kool-aid.  We were out of juice and I couldn’t exactly take my ill child with me to the grocery store.

I am a practical parent.  I love the idealism associated with feeding kids only healthy, non-gmo, non-sugary food.  However, in my world, things don’t always go that way.  I make do with what I have and am confident that most of what I feed them is healthy.

Ingredients

• 2 TBS of fruit punch kool-aid (this one was already sweetened)
• 2 cups of Coconut Water (no added sugar or pulp)
• [easyazon_link identifier=”B00N7AV8ZG” locale=”US” tag=”scrugcorne-20″]popsicle mold[/easyazon_link]

I simply stirred the two together in a mixing cup and poured them into the popsicle mold.  I have several types of molds and chose to use this one because it “collects” the dripped juice so that the kids can drink it up.

I hope you never need this rehydration popsicle recipe but if you do, at least it is quick and easy to make.

Recommended:
Cupcake liners at the bottom of the popsicle will keep hands clean and catch drips!